Mika’s Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce

It was my brother’s birthday last week and instead of a birthday cake, he requested “Brownie Sundaes with Hot Fudge Sauce”. I decided to use my favorite brownie recipe as the base for these sundaes and thought that this would be a good time to post an easy-to make hot fudge sauce recipe – one that you probably have the ingredients for in your pantry.

Make sure to use canned Evaporated Milk for this recipe. Evaporated milk is shelf-stable and better suited for cooking, as it can withstand higher temperatures without curdling. It is also more “concentrated” than regular milk, so it tends to be creamier (it has a higher concentration of milk solids:liquid). Please do not try to substitute with regular milk or sweetened condensed milk – these are not the same, and are not good substitutions for Evaporated Milk. (The best substitution for Evaporated Milk would be heavy cream – this would have the best richness and is least likely to curdle.)

Once batch of homemade hot fudge sauce will give you about 2 pints (4 cups) – which you can store in either two pint-sized jars, or four half-pint jars in the refrigerator… for a pretty long time. Once cooled, you can scoop out as much fudge as you think you will need and reheat in the microwave as you need it. (Half-pint jars of homemade hot fudge sauce make nice gifts for your friends and family!)

Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce (Makes 2 pints):

Use basic pantry ingredients to make a rich homemade hot fudge sauce!

2 sticks unsalted butter (1 c.)

1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 can Evaporated Milk (12 oz.)

2 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat.

2. Add the cocoa powder and salt.

3. Add the evaporated milk. (Make sure you are using Evaporated Milk – do NOT use regular milk or sweetened condensed milk – these are not the same thing.)

4. Add the sugar.

5. Mix all the ingredients together with a whisk or a hand immersion blender.

6. Cook for about 5-7 minutes.

7. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla. Using a hand immersion blender, smooth the mixture out for a minute or two. Be careful, because at this point your fudge will be hot and lava-like, and any splatters will burn! (You can also put this into a regular blender – but be careful not to overfill and make sure to vent the lid when blending hot liquids – you may also want to wait for the mixture to cool down a bit first so you don’t burn yourself in case it splatters.) The hot fudge sauce will thicken as it cools.

8. Store the hot fudge sauce in glass canning jars and refrigerate to store. You can reheat in the microwave: spoon the amount you think you will need into a pyrex measuring cup, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave 30 seconds at a time until heated.